Verum Expiscor
by Candle Wisp
Summary: They came from somewhere far away. They were different. But maybe that is exactly what Alagaesia needed. New heroes and friendships are born that will last a lifetime. What will become of these four strange girls from 'America?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Prologue

"_Wind howled through the night, carrying a scent that would change the world."_

"Oh God, I don't understand how you two can read that book. It sucked."

Rachel and Mikenzie looked up from the blue novel, glaring at their friend.

"This coming from the girl who only read the first sixty pages?" Rachel queried, annoyed.

"So?" Zi sat next to them and continued, "If it was suck-ish then, so I didn't miss anything."

Mikenzie and Rachel both stuck their tongues out at her.

The three girls were sitting at the base of an oak tree on their school lawn, squishing dead leaves that had begun to fall with the coming of autumn. They were waiting for first period to start. Mikenzie and Rachel had _Eragon _squished between them, protecting it like it was the meaning to life. Zi rolled her eyes at them.

They were all juniors in high school, including Maddy, their currently missing member. Rachel was the oldest, two months away from turning seventeen. Her long golden hair and bangs framed her face, while her blue-gray eyes shone with a quiet intensity. A birthmark the color of red wine stained her left hand. She wore a pair of dark blue skinny jeans and black tee-shirt that read 'Light up the Night'.

Mikenzie was the youngest of the four, not even turning sixteen for another month. She had long brown hair with a maroon-ish tinge, and warm brown eyes. Her sleepy eyes were always masked by the hyper attitude she possessed, often driving the other girls crazy. She wore light denim short-shorts and a floral tank-top.

Maddy and Zi were almost physically identical, yet not. Both had chocolate brown hair and were slim. They were both the same height, standing an inch or two above the others. Zi did gymnastics and was so thin she looked like a stick. Her curly hair was everywhere, often covering her hazel eyes. Maddy had orange-brown eyes with straight, thin hair. When she was a child she had a rollerblading accident, resulting in her front teeth being knocked askew, and staying that way permanently.

"Heeeeeeeyyyyyyy."

"Hey, slut," Rachel said, greeting their approaching fourth member. It was true, Maddy really was a slut. She refused to wear anything that went below mid-thigh and did not show off her cleavage. She'd been with too many people to count and flirted with everyone else. She was what others would call a 'prep', or at least a fancy whore, and how she came to be friends with their group was beyond their logic. But they loved her.

Maddy carefully set her designer bag against the tree and sat next to them, not caring that her skirt had ridden up.

"Soo, what's up? Oh God, you're reading _again?_"

"Hey, it's not our fault you're the only one of us who hates books," Mikenzie said.

"That's not true," Maddy huffed. "I liked _Perks of Being_ _a Wallflower_."

"Of course you did," Rachel said off-handedly. "It was all sex and drama."

Maddy thought for a moment then shrugged.

"Hey, Maddy," Zi said, looking at the other brunette, "has Anthony broken up with his girlfriend yet?"

Maddy pouted. "No. He told me he was gonna break it off with her at homecoming, but he didn't. That little be-yotch has him on such a tight leash."

Rachel rolled her eyes. "No, she doesn't. You just hate her because you want Anthony. We've all met her and she's nice. It's your fault for trying to make him be disloyal." Maddy opened her mouth but the blonde continued. "Yes, I know, he doesn't love her. Then he should be straight with her unless he wants her to find out the painful way…besides, he's two years younger than you. Gross."

Maddy glared at her friend and stuck her tongue out.

"I love you too," Rachel said.

The girls chatted idly for a while, catching up from the weekend.

Zi looked at the girls still cradling the novel. "Oh wait, isn't the fourth book supposed to be coming out in like…a month?"

"A month and a half," the girls said in unison. Zi nodded.

Distantly, they heard the bell ring. Standing, the girls grabbed their backpacks (and Maddy's designer bag), and wiped dead leaves from their clothes.

Rachel turned around, and was met with white. An extremely thick mist covered the ground, rising quickly before their eyes.

"Umm, guys," she said slowly, "was that their before?"

Mikenzie also turned. "HOLY-SHIT, MOTHER EFFER!"

'_Guess that's a no.'_

"Uh," Maddy stared at the mist, "is that natural?"

The others looked at her and shrugged.

Rachel's eyes grew wide suddenly. Not only was the mist growing higher, it was moving towards them. The blonde blinked a few times, but it was still coming closer. Then, as if being controlled, a white tendril rose from it and snaked its way toward the teenagers. It looked vaguely like a hand. More tendrils started to rise, reaching out as if to grab them and drag them under.

Rachel felt Maddy dig her nails into her arm painfully. "Is that real?"

Rachel couldn't bring herself to answer. She continued to stare at the lively mist, entranced. She thought she heard…singing? Yes, singing. A low, melancholy voice was coming from its depths, beckoning to her. Then others joined in the haunting melody, making Rachel's skin crawl.

Then slowly, lightly, one of the ghostly hands caressed her face, pulling her towards the wall of white.

A scream came from Mikenzie and she slashed at the hand, making it disappear. But she didn't have enough hands. Hundreds of the white tendrils had formed, grabbing at the girls' ankles and arms, dragging them to whatever the mysterious white mist was.

Like she was underwater, Rachel could hear the distant and muffled cries of her friends, before darkness covered her eyes and she slipped into unconsciousness.

HIHIHIHI

Whatever Rachel was lying on wasn't comfortable. It was hard and cool to the touch, but grainy. With all the will she possessed, the girl cracked her eyes open. Her vision was foggy at first but started to clear with every blink.

Green. Lots and lots of green. She was lying on the ground in the middle of a forest. Rachel groaned.

The teen's throat felt seriously parched and she coughed to bring some amount of feeling back to it. She was curled into a ball and her muscles were stiff as if she'd been there for days. She slowly and painfully began to uncurl them, restraining from crying out.

A groan came from behind her.

Rachel tried to turn her head but instead coughed and asked dryly, "Guys?"

She heard a trio of groans.

Using them as motivation, she attempted to sit and get a better view of things.

Before she could, however, she heard one thing.

"…Goddamnit Rachel, what did you do?"

HIHIHIHI

**AN: Hey guys! Oh my God it feels so good to be writing again! The plot bunnies won't leave me alone but it seems school has a way of not wanting me to do anything except suffer under mountains of homework.**

**Stupid school. Okay, I'm not in the mood to write much of an AN today, so sorry :| But here, I'll give you a cookie just for being great people and clicking on my story :) **

**Oh, just to let you let you know, I should be updating chapter two tomorrow, I already have it written out.**

**As always, reviews are extremely welcome and my life force. Please let me know what you thought, but don't be a dick about it. **

**Love ~Blackspade003**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Hello again. God, that was quick. I just wanted to let all of you know a few things about his story. First off, the chapters will be longer than the first one, which was a prologue. Second, I rated this story T for language, and the rating will eventually go up because of violence, etc. Finally (I think), I doubt I will but I do not wish to offend anyone with what I say (or write, in this case), and if I do, that sucks and I apologize but I likely won't change anything.**

**PS: You should be happy I posted this because I have an AP Chemistry Lab to type up *sigh*.**

Chapter 2

_Rachel tried to turn her head but instead coughed and asked dryly, "Guys?"_

_She heard a trio of groans._

_Using them as motivation, she attempted to sit and get a better view of things._

_Before she could, however, she heard one thing._

"…_Goddamnit Rachel, what did you do?"_

HIHIHIHI

Said teen was still lying on the floor so she craned her neck back to look at their surroundings.

They were in a clearing of sorts. Zi was tangled up in some dead vines, writhing on the floor while Mikenzie just stared at her. Maddy had shakily gotten to her feet and was looking around. The clearing was ringed with tall, ancient trees that creaked and moaned in the breeze. The ground was covered in layers upon layers of pine needles and leaves, both dead and recently fallen, making it cushy. High above, Rachel could see the blue sky and an occasional wisp of cloud. Her backpack was on the ground close to her.

The blonde braced her hands on either side of her and once again attempted to sit up, only to find something on her chest. She looked down…and stared. And stared. And stared some more.

Sitting on her chest was a white dragon's egg. It was perfectly shaped and smooth, lighter than it should have been. It was about a foot long and half a foot wide. It was the color of polished ivory, with veins of an eggshell-silver color. It was…beautiful.

"Woah, dude, that's a really big rock." Zi was looking at her.

Rachel looked at her friend in a daze. "It's…it's not a rock. It's an egg."

Maddy eye's bulged. "From what?" She shrieked. "What beast could have created such a thing?...Oh my god, the dinosaurs have returned!"

"Rachel…" Mikenzie whispered.

The blonde turned to her, only to find the source of her friends worry. Mikenzie was also holding a dragon egg, this one bathed in a deep royal purple. The brunette looked at her friend with a strange fire that they now both shared.

"Hey, how come I didn't get a pretty rock?" Zi pouted.

"Well, if you would like your life to remain uncomplicated and un-dangerous, then I think it's a good thing you didn't get one."

Her friend raised an eyebrow.

Mikenzie was looking from her to the egg in her lap. Her mouth opened and closed, like a fish out of water.

"Umm, guys…where are we?" Zi asked, looking up at the trees and turning in a circle.

Rachel looked around as well. "Certainly not Kansas. _**Or **_California."

Mikenzie looked at the blonde, serious in thought, then said, "You don't suppose…?"

Rachel shook her head furiously. "That only happens in fanfictions." She didn't seem convinced though.

"Then…what was that mist? And do _you_ wanna pull the magical explanation of why we have dragon eggs in our laps out of your ass? Cuz I certainly don't have an explanation."

Maddy's laughter filled the clearing. "Haha, dragons? Seriously guys? You read too much."

The girls glared.

Maddy smiled. "To prove it, I'm going to walk into those trees to show you that the school is on the other side and that someone is playing a really elaborate trick on us."

The brunette disappeared into the trees determinedly. About two minutes later, they heard a scream and said brunette came crashing back.

"WHERE THE FUCK ARE WE? WHERE'S THE SCHOOL? YOU DON'T THINK WE DIED, DO YOU? IF THIS HEAVEN I HATE IT!"

The girl ran around in circles, screaming and tugging at her hair.

Rachel looked at the egg in her lap. They couldn't possibly be…could they?

The blonde looked at Mikenzie, who looked back at her, the same thought running through their heads.

Rachel took a deep breath. "Well, someone better call the cavalry, because girls, we are in Alagaesia."

HIHIHIHI

After both Maddy and Zi had exhausted themselves trying to convince everyone that they were either dreaming or high, the remaining two girls calmly tried to explain the situation. Not that there was much of a 'situation' to begin with.

They saved the details for later. They kind of assumed they might be here for a while, so they told them the basics: they were in a different dimension, one similar to medieval times, there were power-hungry kings and magic users, there probably wasn't a way to get home, they were gonna die, etc.

Mikenzie grinned at Zi. "Ha. I bet someone's wishing that they had read more than sixty pages of the book _now_."

Zi glared at her and stuck her tongue out.

"Okay guys, I still think this a dream, but since we're not waking up anytime soon…what do we do? We're all gonna die, out here in this cold, miserable, pathetic forest and I'm never gonna see Anthony again!" Maddy cried dramatically.

"Haha, serves you right…cougar." Rachel muttered the last part.

"Well, at least he's only two years younger than me, unlike you who only finds guys attractive if they're at least 5 years older than you!"

"Seven" Rachel corrected.

Maddy shuddered. "You're gross."

Rachel grinned and high-fived Mikenzie.

Maddy looked out through the clearing, worry etched on her face. "Okay guys, I'm now seriously freaked. We need to do something. Let's go down this mountain and…find someone. Let's find a town and call home."

Rachel snorted. "This is an era of dragons, elves, and magic. There are no phones here. There's not even electricity."

Maddy looked about ready to die. "Well, we should still go look. Someone might help us find a way home."

Rachel stood. "And what are you going to tell them? 'Hello, sorry to bother you, but my friends and I just came from another dimension and are seeking a way back. Do you happen to have a multi-dimensional travelling device?' Cuz that will go over really well. All you'll do is attract attention to us."

"Then what are we supposed to do? It's not like we have options." Maddy sulked.

Rachel pondered. "Actually, we do have one option. We can't go seeking help in just any place. We can't attract attention to ourselves. We can't show ourselves to the King. And…we can't let anyone about this" she pointed to the eggs, "except for one person."

She gestured around her. "You forget that I, well we," she said, gesturing at Mikenzie, "know a fair amount about…this. Assuming we are in the correct time frame, and if we aren't we're screwed, then I know someone who can help. Judging from the trees, we aren't in Du Weldenvarden, and this forest is too vast and…untamed to be any other than the Spine. That means that we are too far from the elves, the Varden, or the dwarves."

Here she looked at Mikenzie. "You know what I'm talking about."

"Yes," Mikenzie nodded and grinned widely, "I like this train of thought you're having."

Rachel grinned too. "So, we have no other option. We must seek out Brom!"

"Yay!" Zi fist-pumped the air. "Now who the heck's Brom and what the bleeding hell is the Varden?"

HIHIHIHI

Tired and exhausted, Zi and Maddy listened when Mikenzie and Rachel said they would explain everything in more detail later.

Zi yawned, "So since you're not gonna tell us now, can you at least tell us how we find this Brom?"

Rachel bit her lip. "We've gotta find out where exactly in the Spine we are, then formulate a plan, then execute said plan, then-"

A loud growl emanated through the clearing.

"Whoops, sorry" Zi blushed. "I'm hungry."

Rachel frowned. "Well, the _first_ thing we have to do is find food and water. Otherwise everything is pointless."

She glanced around the clearing. "Okay guys, bag check! In an emergency such as this we need to take inventory of all our supplies and the supplies that we need."

"Uh," Maddy looked around, "my bag's not here."

"Well shit."

They grabbed their belongings and sat in a circle, up-ending their bags and letting everything fall to the floor.

"So," Rachel picked through the meager pile, "we have a fruit bar, a granola bar, and one of Zi's terrible sandwiches."

"Hey!"

"What? They're gross."

Zi stuck her tongue out. Rachel smiled and turned her head to the sky.

"Anyone know what time it is?"

Maddy reached into the pile and took out her phone, fiddling with it. She snapped it shut. "It's dead."

"Everyone take out your electronics."

There was a snapping sound as they each checked their phones. Rachel grabbed her laptop from the pile.

"Nothing guys" Zi sighed. "The phones are all dead."

"Hey," Rachel said. "The laptop's working."

Mikenzie all but flung herself over Rachel, the other girls crowding close.

"Oh, wait. False alarm. It's alive but I can't get an internet connection."

Maddy punched her friend in the arm. "Well what bloody use is that?"

"What are you British now? And it's plenty useful. We've got Word and PowerPoint, some games…"

Maddy rolled her eyes. "Yes, of course, we have an urgent need to create a slide-show!"

"But of course," Rachel said, and then a big smile crossed her face. "Heeeeyyyy, guys…I've got all the movies I downloaded, and pictures."

There was a synchronized fist-pump from the girls, and then their attention was drawn back to the pile.

"So what else we got?"

"Let's see…ooh, a lighter, nice Kenzie. Kenzie's limited supplies of toiletries, courtesy of our sleep-over. My cards, thank Morgan Freeman! And…yes, my pocket knife! Complete with mini-scissors, mini-screwdriver, and mini-bottle opener!" Rachel hummed and hugged her knife close. "Zi's jewelry, Kenzie's make-up, ooh that's gonna run out quickly, and a whole lot of mother-frickin school supplies!"

Zi sighed. "So basically, we have no way to get home, no way to contact home, almost zero food, no water, and we're in a different universe?"

Maddy nodded. "That about sums it up."

"Well fuck. Excuse me if I go into panic mode."

"Nope, no panic mode," Rachel warned. "Predators will sense your adrenaline rush and eat you."

Maddy's eyes widened. "I…uh, I think I wanna go home now."

Rachel looked up. "Yeah…"

They fell into silence and leaves rustled in the breeze around them.

Rachel placed the laptop on Mikenzie's lap and stood. She walked to a pine with low-hanging branches and began to climb it.

"Um, isn't this a bad time for a leisurely climb?" Zi asked.

The blonde flipped her off. She kept climbing and eventually stopped about 10 feet from the top, where the branches were too thin to support her. The girls could only see the bottoms of her black Converse.

A few minutes later she climbed down and landed next to them.

"What'd you see? Ponies and rainbows?" Mikenzie looked so hopeful.

"Forest. A whole lot of forest."

Mikenzie's lip quivered. "No ponies?"

Maddy pat her head. "No Mikenzie, no ponies."

Rachel looked thoughtful. "Okay, so we fell into this world, or at least left ours at 8:05 am; however, we don't know how long we were unconscious, it could have been a minutes or days. Also, this world might not even be on the same time frame." She paused and took a long breath. "If we go by the sun, and that's assuming I'm reading it correctly, then it should be about 6 p.m. …we need to find water before it gets dark."

"YAY!" Mikenzie jumped about. "We're going on an adventure! To Candy Mountain! Yaaayyy!"

HIHIHIHI

The girls repacked their supplies, shouldered their backpacks and headed out. Since it was an adequate shelter, the girls left neon pink sticky notes on occasional leaves in the event they could not find a better place to stay. As they trudged, Rachel felt the dragon egg bumping into her back, despite her having wrapped it in her jacket.

Following Rachel's never-ending common sense, the girls looked for water by searching for the 'signs' Rachel mentioned. The closer they got to water, the more abundant and dense the trees would get. Animals tended to flock towards a source of water. And of course, they listened.

After a while, a dull thunder met their ears, vibrating up through the mossy forest floor.

Maddy shrieked 'Airplane!' and fell flat on her butt.

"Nope," Zi said, "waterfall!"

The girls looked at each other.

"WATER!" They shouted their victory in unison and ran towards their destination.

A wall of thick vines and leaves blocked their path, and as they tore through it they gasped at what was on the other side.

"Guys, I don't think we have a need to go back to the clearing," Zi said wide-eyed.

That was for sure.

They were in another clearing, a bigger one, and the only word that seemed to describe it was paradise. A long, graceful waterfall stretched before them, creating a light mist that kissed their faces. It fell over the edge of a sturdy, stone cliff and into a pond that sparkled. The water was a clear turquoise, perfect for swimming. A sandy beach graced one side of the pond, its tan length stretching back for yards. Trees of all kinds ringed the clearing: pine trees, maple trees, oak trees, aspen trees, apple trees-apple trees?

"APPLES!"

The word had barely left Mikenzie's mouth when Zi smacked into her from behind, rushing with all she possessed to the tree.

HIHIHIHI

They hadn't been this happy in a long time. The four girls sat on a rock that jutted out over the pond, dangling and splashing their feet in the water. A pile of delicious, fat red apples sat between them on Mikenzie's jacket. They were laughing and making jokes, forgetting at the moment they were so very far from home.

The sun was fading fast so they opted to sleep there for the night, deciding to deal with their situation in the morning. They spread out there jackets on the sand near the cliff wall. The humidity from the waterfall made it difficult to locate any good firewood nearby, so they found another source of fuel.

"Sayonara, biology homework!" Mikenzie cackled evilly as she added the paper to the blazing pile of other unfortunately hated assignments. The fire lay between their 'beds'.

They sat around the warmth quietly, each buried in their own thoughts. Rachel found hers constantly driven to the egg in her backpack. With hesitant hands, she reached in her bag and took out the clothed bundle. Unwrapping the egg, she placed it near her feet, close to the fire. For all she knew, the little guy was also cold.

The violet egg sat in Mikenzie's lap as she rocked back and forth slowly, humming 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star'.

It was fitting. In their world, the stars were often masked by clouds and city lights, but here they truly did sparkle.

It was silent and peaceful until, "We need smores."

They laughed.

HIHIHIHI

**AN: Hey, I know we haven't met yet anybody of importance yet, just hang on to your skivvies-that time will come!**

**A million thank-you's to those who have reviewed, alerted and favorited, you made my day! I will love you always :) **

**It's nearly midnight and I still have to get in the shower, so see you later, and here's a doughnut!**

**Remember, review, review, make my day :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: I am so utterly and profusely sorry! I forgot to let you guys know when this story takes place, thank you Fanboy123 for picking up on that- I hope I didn't cause too much confusion :\ It takes place at the beginning of Eragon, as you will find out in this chapter. I hope that doesn't throw any of you off or make you want to stop reading. Again, I apologize for the confusion.**

**Thank you to all of you who reviewed and who have urged me to continue, I love you!**

Chapter 3

Whoever said that sleeping on the beach was nice needed to be eaten by a dragon. Rachel woke up with a new set of aches and pains, along with a face and mouth full of sand.

She spit it out distastefully.

The sun was just starting to top the trees. The blonde looked at the dying embers of their homework-fire. Zi was snoring loudly and cuddling Mikenzie's foot. Rachel rubbed the tired from her eyes, and then smacked the snoring girl.

She sat up, eyes wide. "What the bleeding hell?" Then she sighed and looked around groggily. "Ah! Where are we, what happened? Are we dead?"

"Nope. Alagaesia, remember?"

"Oh yeah…"

Maddy woke up easily, but Mikenzie was the real chore. That girl could and did sleep through everything. After slapping her a few times didn't work, the three girls sighed in exasperation.

Maddy's head bobbed up, and she looked at the pond. She smiled. "Guys…are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

The others followed her eyes and grinned evilly.

A few minutes and a lot of screaming later, Mikenzie sat dripping and glowering at the others while they high-fived each other.

"You know, a splash would have worked, but did you have to _dump_ me in the pond? Sheesh."

"Well, you kinda needed a shower." The girls snickered.

HIHIHIHI

They spent most of the day exploring the clearing and the surrounding woods. Maddy opted to take the job of finding and gathering food. About two or three dozen meters into the forest she discovered an orange tree, and in the opposite direction she uncovered a small patch of strawberries.

After a while they took a break to splash in the water, a respite from the warm weather, and then lay out on the sand to dry. As they let the water evaporate from their bodies, Rachel and Mikenzie filled the girls in on what Eragon was about. They didn't want their friends to be completely unprepared in case they got separated. They informed them of the dragons and the Riders, of the tyrant king and the rebel movement.

"Wait, if everything about these dragons and their Riders are true…why do you two have eggs?"

Mikenzie and Rachel looked at each other. In all honesty, it was something they had been trying not to think about too much. They were scared at what implications the eggs might have.

"I have no idea…maybe Kenzie and I are supposed to deliver them?"

"Or maybe…you two are going to be Dragon Riders! Yes, I've always wanted friends in high places!" Zi fist-pumped.

Maddy groaned, "Noooo, you two can't be Dragon Riders. We're a team, you can't leave us! Besides, just because they landed in your lap doesn't mean they're _yours_."

Mikenzie's mouth twitched, but she didn't say anything.

After a while of companionable silence, they got up to continue exploring.

On the upside of their renewed quest, the girls discovered a cave, about two or three meters up the side of the cliff. It was about half the size of a school classroom, and the walls were smooth and gray. They took an hour cleaning out the dead leaves and moss from the floor. When they were done, they moved their belongings to the cave.

On the downside, they still hadn't found a village or even remote signs of civilization.

An hour or two before sunset, the girls were dragging big vines back to 'camp'. As they had no desire to sleep in the cave while it was still hot outside, the girls decided to fashion themselves some hammocks. As none of them had made hammocks before, it took many failed attempts before they finished four decent-looking and sturdy 'swingy beds', as Mikenzie liked to call them. They strung them up between a few elm trees. They weren't the most comfortable things to sleep on, but they still beat sand and stone.

HIHIHIHI

That night they each lay in their respective hammocks. The white egg lie in Rachel's lap, the violet one in Mikenzie's, who was slowly dozing off.

"Tomorrow I'm going to try and climb the cliff and see if I can see anything." Rachel mused. "As nice as it is here, we need to find out what's going on. We need to find out if there is a way to get home. We need to know…anything!"

"Mmhmm," Mikenzie mumbled drowsily, stroking the egg in her lap.

HIHIHIHI

Rachel sat straight up.

It was the squeaking that had roused her from her sleep. It was loud and high-pitched, increasing in volume the longer she ignored it.

Her friends were still sleeping quietly, obviously not sensing anything strange. Then Rachel noticed the wobbling- the white egg was rocking violently in her lap. As soon as she looked at it, it froze, giving an indignant squeak. After a while it continued its movements with renewed vigor, squeaking loudly and almost masking the tapping sounds that emanated from within.

By now Zi had raised her head sleepily. The others were stirring as well.

A resounding crack filled the air. Rachel watched in a daze as rifts appeared along the egg, traveling down the sides of the rock-hard shell like breaking ice. It splintered in a few more places before it finally shattered, sending fragments flying in all directions. The others, now awake, shrieked and covered their heads. Waiting a few moments for additional protection, Rachel slowly lowered her arms and opened her eyes.

The white, baby dragon lay in her lap, a tangled heap. It worked on untangling its limbs and tail from each other, and then shakily stood upright. It wobbled on its feet, giving Rachel adequate time to examine it. It was startling white, practically glowing like the moon and stars above them. The fire danced across the scales of its lithe body, throwing brilliant hues of every color around the camp. Spikes ran along the base of its back and tail, the same color as the scales but almost…shimmery. The claws were deadly and sharp. Its head was triangular and strong on top of its long, graceful neck, two fangs barely curving over its jaw. She watch, utterly fascinated, as it spread its wings slowly. They were a beautiful, leathery ivory, and they were twice as long as the rest of its body. She could feel its claws digging into her skin through the jeans. The blonde winced slightly.

The dragon whipped its head around, and met her eyes. Rachel felt all the breath leave her instantly. Its eyes were a clear, sharp silver, and they bore so deep into her she felt like curling into a ball and hiding forever. She couldn't take her eyes away no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't focus on anything but the intensity, the intelligence…

She held her breath as it crawled towards her.

Rachel raised her hand slowly, a friendly motion. The dragon looked at it interestedly, then back to her. It snaked its snowy head towards her palm, and nudged it.

A shrill scream came from her as red-hot pain shot through her body. She arched her body in agony and fell off her hammock, landing ungraciously on the floor and curling into a ball.

She heard distant cries of alarm from her friends.

The last thing she saw was the clear silver eyes of the dragon.

'_No,_' she thought. _Her dragon._

HIHIHIHI

_White and silver. White and silver. That was all the blonde teen saw. She was surrounded by the colors. She was somewhere she didn't recognize, but it was somewhere she felt she should. This place felt so…familiar. Everything around her felt so calm and warm. She turned idly in circles, feeling a bit light._

"_Rachel…"_

_She stopped spinning._

"_Rachel…"_

"_What?" Her voice echoed. No response._

"…_Rachel…"_

_The girl turned frantically, trying to find the source of the voice, but she could not. She felt she needed to find the owner. But she couldn't._

HIHIHIHI

The first thing Rachel noticed was that she was uncomfortable. For some reason, she felt as if she was lying in sand, not the mossy ground she remembered. She slowly peeled her eyes open. She _was_ lying on the sand, about a dozen or so feet from the camp. She slowly looked at her clenched fist; grimacing, she painfully uncurled her fingers. An oval shaped mark the color of a moonbeam stained the majority of her right palm. Around the mark, her skin was raw and puffy, pulsing slightly. She moaned.

From her position on the sand, she could see her friends crouched near the ponds edge, fussing over Maddy's hand which was bleeding profusely.

"Wha…" Her voice was weak and rough, "What happened to you?"

She wasn't prepared for the livid glare she received. "Your stupid lizard, that's what!"

Rachel heard a snort come from behind her head and glanced back. Her dragon was perched majestically in the sand next to her head, as if guarding her. Its head was cocked to the side at Maddy's tone.

Rachel looked from the dragon to her seething friend and back.

"What'd he do?" She slowly sat up and stifled a groan.

"It bit me that's what!"

Rachel raised her eyebrow.

Zi finished for her. "After you fell unconscious we got really worried. We tried to wake you up but no matter what we did you didn't wake up. We decided to dump you in the pond but when Maddy started dragging you the dragon attacked her. I guess it thought we were trying to hurt you."

Rachel looked at the dragon. He looked rather pleased with himself. She couldn't help but smile.

"Hey…" Kenzie said. "You said 'he'. How do you know it's male?"

Rachel shrugged and forced herself into a sitting position. "I don't know. I just know…you know?" She looked at the dragon. "You are a boy, right?" He blinked happily and walked towards her, crawling into her lap and curling up; his tail wrapped around her arm.

The blonde picked him up and walked towards the others, placing her bare feet in the water.

Maddy growled at the close proximity to the dragon, and it didn't help when Mikenzie started cooing at him and telling him how cute he was.

HIHIHIHI

"I swear to God if you die I'll kill you!" Maddy yelled from the bottom of the cliff.

Zi had been a good friend and had decided to join Rachel on her trip to the top of the cliff. The only way to get there was a sheer, steep outcropping about eighteen inches long that wound its way haphazardly across the rock.

The girls were halfway there and already scared shitless. It was a lot farther to the bottom than it had originally looked. Zi grimaced at the height but continued inching her way behind the blonde.

The girls all but flung themselves onto the solid ground when they reached the end. Rachel grit her teeth and pulled herself up, cautiously looking over the edge of the granite. She could barely see the little white mass that was her dragon- he had been anxious to go with them, but Rachel didn't know if he could fly yet so she had been forced to loosely tie him to a tree. Maddy and Mikenzie waved to her. She flipped them off, then turned to help Zi up.

Zi dusted herself of and they turned to examine their surroundings.

They gasped in unison.

Judging by the leaves, fall was in full bloom. The trees dazzled them in an array of red, gold, and orange, blanketing the forest in brilliance. The river that ran from the pond snaked its way through the woods, moving down the mountain in a zig- zag.

But no towns. Nadda.

She looked at Maddy hopelessly.

Getting down the cliff was harder than getting up it, but the girls managed.

"So," Maddy started, "Did you see anything?"

"Not much," Zi answered.

Rachel was nearly thrown onto her back as a little white blurb flew into her stomach. He had gnawed right through the vine. '_Damn_,' she thought. '_For one so little he packs a serious punch.'_

HIHIHIHI

It was dusk, and the girls lay in their hammocks…eating apples. They had to ration the fruit, but it didn't matter because they were already sick of apples.

"What are we gonna do?" Maddy mourned, arm thrown over her eyes dramatically.

"I have half a plan, but it's long and difficult." Rachel said.

"Pray tell," said Mikenzie. "Spill the beans."

"Fine. We know we need to get to Brom. To do that, we need a way there. We can't do the entire journey with ourselves and our supplies on nothing but foot, so we'll need a horse. To get the horse, we'll have to steal it from a village. To find a village, we have to follow the river and hope it takes us to people."

"So it's basically back to our only hope resting on a village that may or may not be near?" Zi questioned.

"Pretty much."

Zi grimaced. "That sounds so…exhausting."

"Yeah…but I'd like to wait a few weeks if it's okay with you guys. I'd like this little guy," Rachel gestured to the snowy dragon in her lap, "to get a bit bigger. I don't want to have to worry about him getting hurt out there."

"Ha-ha, deal," Maddy said, "I'm in no rush to leave this Paradise."

Mikenzie motioned to the dragon. "You should name him."

"Yeah…" Rachel responded.

She looked at the creature who stared at her calmly.

'_Who are you, little one?...And where did you come from?'_

She was broken out of her reverie by Zi, who said, "Who wants to watch _Megamind_?" The brunette held up the laptop.

There was a unanimous raise of hands.

HIHIHIHI

They had been in Paradise for about ten days now, and it was already there home. On cold nights the girls slept in the cave, placing layers upon layers of dead pine needles and leaves beneath their jackets. They had taken to writing on the back wall, using McKenzie's silver Sharpie to write down song lyrics and names, pictures and favorite quotes. In the center of the wall in large, bold letters was written 'Kenzie, Zi, Rachel and Maddy were here', complete with hearts and rainbows.

The girls had made a rope ladder to the cave out of vines and strong, fallen branches. They had a growing pile of dry wood for the fire stacked against the granite cliff. The four friends would wash themselves and their clothing further down the river, later hanging their clothes on a branch to dry.

The biggest change was Rachel's dragon. She still had not named him. When he was still small, he would sit on her shoulder and wrap his tail around her upper arm while she talked to him about the world, sharing some of her experiences through images and thoughts; however in the short passing time he had grown like a rocket, his shoulders now reaching Rachel's. For hours on end he would swim in the pond or do flips in the air. Whenever the girls settled for the night, he would settle with them as they would watch their almost unlimited selection of 'chick-flicks' on the laptop, which never seemed to run out of power. However, his favorite pastime was terrorizing Maddy. The best time had been when he had snuck up on her with a dead rabbit between his teeth. The girls did not have to worry about feeding him, he did more than enough for himself; sometimes, he would bring a fresh kill back to camp and drop it at his Rider's feet in offering. As starved as the girls were, they weren't too keen on the idea of cooking a squirrel. Rachel had impressed on him the importance of not eating the bloody animals near them or the camp.

Over time, Mikenzie tried to hide it, but her worry increased daily. Her dragon still hadn't hatched yet. Late at night she would spend hours stroking and whispering to it. Rachel's dragon would often nudge it with his snout, as if trying to talk to it. After a while of mounting concern, the brunette approached her blonde friend, twirling the purple egg in her hands.

"You don't think it's dead, do you?" Mikenzie asked nervously.

Rachel frowned at her friend's distress. "Of course it's not dead; no human can kill a dragon egg."

"Then…what if it isn't meant for me? What if it was an accident?"

Rachel's hearty laughter filled the glade. "Ha-ha, if there is one thing you and I know, it is that accidents don't happen in this world."

"I guess," Mikenzie mumbled. "Then why is it taking so long?"

"It's resting that's why. You run yourself ragged 27 hours a day, eight days a week. One of you has to make up for all that lost sleep."

A wry smile touched the brunette's lips. "Ha-ha, yep. We can't both be intentional insomniacs." She smiled widely. "That's kind of unusual for you two then, isn't it? Didn't it take Saphira a month to hatch?"

"I've never actually thought about it," the blonde said.

HIHIHIHI

"What's your name? Huh? Who are you boy?"

Her dragon blinked his silver eyes at her. It had now been a full three weeks since the girls had arrived. Rachel's dragon had continued his freakish growth speed. The weather had been decent enough.

But there was a constant reminder of their current plight-food. They were running dangerously low. The dragon had grown enough to Rachel's wishes, but now they had to leave. Soon.

Along with his size, the dragon's knowledge had greatly expanded. Rachel taught him everything she knew about this world, and then taught him everything about hers. He soaked information up like a sponge.

Until last night, the blonde had not thought too seriously about the name issue. She had woken in the middle of the night to him sitting next to her hammock, large white head in her lap, and repeating 'Rachel…Rachel…Rachel…'

He seemed to enjoy saying her name. His voice, or thought, she guessed, was fairly deep and masculine. It breezed across her mind in a fresh wind, gentle and inviting. It crashed over stones on a beach and seemed to emanate from the deepest parts of her soul. She had loved it immediately.

She knew she had to give him a name, and now. She bit the inside of her lip and began to rattle off names.

"Umm…Paul? No? Steven? Jack?...uh, Russell? Henry?" His distaste grew with each passing name.

She smiled, and said, "Yoda? Obi-wan Kenobi? R2-D2?" Okay, she was having way too much fun with this.

"Fine," she sighed at his insistent head shaking. "Hmm…Aragorn? Gandalf?...Grima Worm-Tongue?" She couldn't help herself.

Maddy came up behind her. "How about Lizard-Fiend?"

The dragon growled and hurled his tail threw the sand, sending a wave of the stuff over her friend. The brunettes shrieked insults at it and ran away.

Rachel grinned at the retreating form of her friend, and began to rack her brains again. "Pyro? Eridor? Sylaon?" He shook his head stubbornly at every one.

The teen huffed. She continued rattling off names while she set about her daily 'chores'. Nothing seemed to fit, and she was about to tear her hair out in frustration when suddenly a cool touch brushed her thoughts. As if everything had fallen into place, a name touched her mind, and she _knew._

"Valkyron?" The effect on him was instantaneous. He hummed in satisfaction and pushed his snout into her palm.

'_Yes,'_ he said. '_I am Valkyron.'_

HIHIHIHI

It was an understatement to say the girls were unhappy with their departure. Even though they hadn't been there long, this place had become one to call home.

Their last night was spent filling their packs with all the fruit that remained. They drank from the river till they could hold no more, and filled their water bottles.

The plan was to follow the river down the mountain until they reached…somewhere. It was as simple as that. Valkyron was to walk in the riverbed to cover his tracks.

They were quiet as they lay to sleep, but none of them could find peace enough to rest.

HIHIHIHI

"Is it almost done?" Zi asked Rachel, peering over her friends shoulder.

"Just about," came the reply, then the blonde shuffled and held up a flat plank of wood. Zi had found it that morning, and, using the pocket knife, the girls had carved the word PARADISE into the grain. Then, taking turns, they had carved their names on the back. Rachel carved in Valkyron's name.

Looking at the finished piece, the friends admired their work.

"Mikenzie, would you like to do the honors?" Rachel gestured at the wood.

"I would love to." Mikenzie gripped the masterpiece, then stood and wedged the sign between two branches of the apple tree.

They each reminisced silently, taking one last look at Paradise. They took in the waterfall, the pond and the partially hidden cave; the sand and the great ancient trees, which had guarded them like sentinels; and finally, to each other. At least they would always have each other. Always.

As one, they turned their backs and headed down the river, Valkyron treading after them silently.

One Week Later

Maddy cried angrily, "God, I hate it when you guys are right!"

The four girls were crouched behind a fallen tree. They had finally reached the edge of the woods, and had nearly had a heart-attack when they saw the village that rested on the other side. It had been so long that the sounds of civilization were foreign to the girls. The town, which was small compared to any in theirs, laid approximately two-thirds of a mile from their hidden position, close to the flowing river.

Maddy was groaning in agony. They really _were_ in a place with no technology.

The girls were exhausted, dirty and hungry. Their food had run out the day before, making their small stomachs rumble in anger. The girls were currently scaling what they could see of the village. It wasn't very large: the houses were all a dusty brown, and spread far apart; crops were seen in the distance, yet they didn't seem too prosperous; animals grazed in the surrounding fields, while farm-hands watched carefully; smoke rose from the buildings.

Rachel sighed in relief- at least it would be easy to break in to.

"We can't all go, but I'll need a look-out. Who wants to volunteer?" The blonde looked at them.

Zi started to raise her hand, but Rachel said, "You drag your feet when you walk, so sorry, but no." She looked at Maddy. "You're no criminal, but hey, it's time to walk on the wild side."

Maddy shrugged and agreed.

As one, they went back to the small clearing Valkyron was in, said dragon pacing angrily. He wasn't very old, but he already hated being left behind.

They waited until well after the sun had set to put their plan into action. Rachel wore her black hoodie to prevent it from shining in the moonlight. Maddy was nervous, but also excited as the two were once again crouched behind the fallen tree.

"Okay," the brunettes said, "Let's do this."

They ran as fast as they dared, and tried not to sigh in relief as they made it successfully to the first house. They silently crept from building to building, staying in the shadows and peeking through windows.

After half an hour of bated breath and rising anticipation, the two teens came across what might be described as a general store. They picked the lock with a bobby pin (it was much easier than picking their locks back home), and the girls froze as the door creaked loudly. They waited a moment for sound, then slipped inside and carefully closed the door. Maddy pulled Mikenzie's lighter from the backpack she carried and flicked it on, casting a warm glow around the room.

The girls looked around and grinned. Jackpot.

There were folded lengths of fabric on shelves, next to large swatches of thick leather. Leather straps hung on the wall next to coils of tough rope. The other wall held materials used for the household: pots and pans, bowls and eating utensils, there was even a selection of sewing needles and thread. A small shelf held spices and seasonings- salt had never looked so good. There were a couple pitchforks; there were tongs and hammers, etc. And there were weapons. Being peaceful farmers, they didn't have a wide variety, just a collection of hunting knives and some small daggers. Even though these people mostly fed themselves, they had a barrel here and there with ears of corn, pickled radishes, bread, and, you guessed it, apples.

"Wow. We're gonna need a horse first. There is no way in hell we're carrying that all by ourselves," Maddy said.

"I think we passed a barn on the way. I'll go see about a horse," Rachel responded.

The blonde carefully snuck back outside and retraced their steps to a medium sized barn. She peaked inside. A lamp was lit, but the owner was fast asleep on a pile of hay, an empty bottle lying next to him. There were perhaps half a dozen horses in the stalls that lined the interior of the building, most of them dozing or simply looking bored. The teen made her way to a stall on the left side: its occupant was a chocolate colored stallion. He stood calmly, following her with his eyes just as she was doing. He seemed almost amused that she was sneaking around. The girl appraised him. He looked strong and healthy enough.

She offered her hand to him, and he nudged it with his nose, neighing softly.

She smiled. He was definitely coming with.

"I'll be right back," she whispered to him. She noiselessly side-stepped the sleeping owner, and examined the gear on the back wall. She bit the inside of her lip, and then took down a large leather saddle, reins, and two saddlebags. After a second thought, she took one of the horse bushes, then made her way back to the stallion.

Rachel's mother had dated the owner of ranch and rodeo when she was little, so the teen was accustomed to being around horses. He stood absolutely still while she bustled around him, buckling on the saddle and the rest of the gear. Rachel gently led him from the stall to the barn entrance, grabbing an apple from a bin for him on the way out. He munched it happily.

When they reached the store, she tethered him to a pole. '_Stay here,_' she impressed on him with her mind. He stiffened, eyes wide, then he slowly relaxed.

The blonde gently knocked three times and Maddy opened the door. The brunette had gotten most of the supplies they needed, placing them in a pile. There was a long coil of rope, two bundles of food, a wad of clothing, three hunting knives and two daggers. Rachel smiled as she saw the small bottle of salt.

"I found the clothes in the back," Maddy said. "Mens."

"Good, I hate dresses."

The blonde quickly pulled three bundles of fabric from the shelf, and sewing needles with thread, adding them to the pile. She also grabbed some of the large leather squares. Maybe Brom could make a saddle for Valkyron.

Maddy worked separating the items into the backpacks, except for the food, which she went out and placed in the stallion's saddlebags. The brunette came back inside to her friend who was bent over the floor. "What are you doing? Let's get out of here already."

Rachel stood and flashed a one dollar bill at her. On it she had written, 'One day we will pay you back', in blue Sharpie.

"I hope they like George Washington," Maddy said as her friend placed it on the counter. They left the building immediately, the stallion clopping quietly behind them as they stuck to the shadows. Something caught Rachel's eye, and after checking for people, she ran to it. It was a bulletin board. It was covered in charts, job offers, notices…and wanted posters. She smiled in relief to see that nothing seemingly looking like _Eragon _was up there, and again to see that they had the same language as from her world.

"What is it?" Maddy whispered when the blonde came back.

"I have good news. One, the Empire isn't hunting Eragon yet and two, those notices say we're in Therinsford, only a few days away from Carvahall."

The relief was all but evident in the brunettes face: she disliked anything to do with the wild or exercise. The girls held their breath all the way back to the fallen tree, stopping to calm their quivering hearts.

About half an hour later, they met up with Zi, Mikenzie, and Valkyron, the latter of which raised his head in distaste at the horse. The girls informed the others of their close proximity to Carvahall, and of the supplies they managed to get.

As they readied for immediate departure, it was unanimously decided to call the stallion Felix. He seemed to like it.

While none of them liked travelling in the dark, it was necessary to put distance between them and Therinsford, so they evened out the supplies and headed north.

HIHIHIHI

The cold chill of winter had set in. It hadn't quite snowed yet, but the girls woke every morning to frost coating the ground, making it crispy to walk on. If they remembered correctly, Saphira was to hatch in winter.

The violet dragon still had not hatched yet. It had moved once, wobbling slightly, but hadn't moved since.

Most dragons waited centuries for their Riders. After a millennium of waiting for his Rider, Valkyron found it difficult not to speak with Rachel. His vocabulary had expanded greatly, and he now contributed to whole conversations. He was overjoyed he could now be with his life-companion. After much debate and hesitancy, the other girls had allowed him to enter their minds when necessary. Maddy immediately regretted it, because now Valkyron had a new way to torture her.

HIHIHIHI

"Is that it? Is that Carvahall?" Maddy all but bounced with the possibility that they no longer had to travel. The four girls looked at the village in the valley, Mikenzie and Rachel suppressing a sigh of relief that it was still in one piece.

The friends shivered violently in the cold. They had woken to an inch of snow that morning, and it only got worse as the day went on. They had fashioned rough cloaks with hoods a few nights ago out of the fabric they had taken, but they barely helped.

The six of them, Valkyron and Felix included, made their way down the mountain, eventually finding a stone outcropping near the bottom. Because Rachel had the gedwey ignasia, she would go down to convince Brom of their...damsel-in-distressness? Mikenzie would go with her. It was too cold to strip, so they simply put the clothes they had taken on over their own, along with the cloaks. They didn't have to wait long until darkness fell, but with it came a blizzard. It made it difficult for the two teens to make it to the village; the only thing guiding them was the barely visible lights in the distance.

HIHIHIHI

Knock, knock, and knock.

Knock, knock, knock.

Brom's eye twitched.

Knock, knock, knock, knock, knock.

Brom clenched his fist. Who the hell could be visiting him at this hour? He wasn't that popular. He turned angrily in his bed and stubbornly ignored the visitor. The knocking didn't stop.

Growling with all the anger that the old man possessed, he shoved his blanket off and stalked angrily towards his door, dodging random piles of books and manuscripts.

"Alright, alright, I'm coming!" He ripped the door open, and then blinked in surprise.

Two hooded figures stood huddled together before his door, one with their fist raised to knock again. The person slowly lowered it. A blizzard raged around them, making them seem small.

"Who the blasted hell are you?"

The one on the right pushed back their hood, revealing a blonde girl in her teens.

"My name is Rachel. And I am a Dragon Rider."

HIHIHIHI

**Hey guys! You made it all the way to the bottom of the page! Sorry it was so long, I didn't intend for it to be that way, it just sort of happened…**

**Anyways, I just want to let you something. The dream Rachel had while unconscious was not related to Valkyron. She may have seen silver and white and heard her name, but it was nowhere near related to her dragon. I won't tell you what it was, you'll just have to find out later.**

**If you have any questions, feel free to ask, and ..review.**

**Let me know what you think, love ya ;)**


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